The instructional skills workshop: A missed opportunity in the UK?

Abstract

The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) is a Canadian response to the challenge of ensuring university and college teachers have appropriate instructional skills. The programme is particularly successful in engaging teachers to enhance their stance towards student-centred teaching. This article explains the benefits of the ISW and explores possible reasons why despite proving popular in over 60 countries, it has not as yet been taken up in the UK. The authors conclude with a suggestion that the ISW could be a valuable addition to the UK approach of PG Certs and HEA accreditation.

Keywords:

• Instructional skills workshop
• professional development
• PGCert
• pedagogic innovation
• teaching and learning

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge the advice and guidance provided by Fiona Campbell, formerly from Edinburgh Napier University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.